Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Cones is an "interactive exhibition of colour and light transparency" by the young artist Jemima Charles. She writes:

"Cones deals with visual perception and the role of the retina. The cone is one of the basic building blocks of form construction, and seeing is one of the processes of visual art. The viewer interacts with the work when light coming from inside the work falling on the retina of the eye generates visual stimuli that are transmitted to the brain via nerve impulses. Arriving impulses are combined with established experiences and habits of seeing, thus visual perception can differ from person to person....

"Perceptions can be influenced by social connections, political connections, spiritual connections and many more. I hope that the viewer will leave marks of intimate relationships they have to these colours."

The materials of this project are inspired by the art of nebuta, a Japanese paper lantern festival. In 2008, Charles participated in a nebuta workshop in Japan. On returning to Trinidad, in order to further explore the medium, she began experimenting with wire-bending and basic geometrical shapes.

The artist will begin installing Cones at Alice Yard two days before the formal opening. On Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 January (12.00 to 7.00 pm), visitors are welcome to participate in the installation by helping to paint the paper cones. (Please bring a paintbrush.)

The exhibition opens at 7.00 pm on Friday 22 January and runs until Monday 25.

= Foodstuffs, blankets and clothing can be dropped off (please label all bags) to the COP (Congress of the People) Flagship Office on the corner of Tragarete Road and Broome Street in Port of Spain between 9am and 3pm

We urge all friends of Alice Yard to make a donation of some kind. Recovery from this disaster will be long, painful, and very expensive. It’s still unclear how many thousands of people have been injured or killed, and damage to Haiti’s infrastructure seems immense.

“This was the only photo from my entire time while in Haiti. On my last visit [in 2002], I just could not take pictures. I had to ask a colleague (Karole Gizolme) to take this image for me. I noticed the shoes on the ground near to where I was sitting. Something about the way that the shoes had become so worn out struck me. I kept thinking that no one growing child could have worn that shoe long enough for it to become so worn down. The shoes were just on the ground in a yard in the Capital.”

Thursday, January 7, 2010

2010 is nearly a week old, but it's not too late the celebrate the start of the new year with 12, Alice Yard's house band. On Friday 8 January, 12 will host a special concert with guest performers Blue Emperor, Gyazette, and Stop.Motion, at the rooftop terrace of Tamnak Thai (13 Queen's Park East, Port of Spain). The show starts at 7.30 pm, and tickets (purchasable at the door) cost $150.

The event will help raise funds for 12's upcoming trip to Hartford, Connecticut, where the band will perform at Real Art Ways as part of the ongoing Rockstone and Bootheel programme.

.Alice Yard is the backyard space of the house at 80 Roberts Street, Woodbrook, Port of Spain.

This was once the house of Sean Leonard’s great-grandmother. Four generations of children played and imagined in this yard, and now we continue this tradition. Alice Yard is a space for creative experiment, collaboration, and improvisation.

Alice Yard is administered and curated by architect Sean Leonard, artist Christopher Cozier, and writer and editor Nicholas Laughlin, with the help of a growing network of creative collaborators. Read more about us here. Alice Yard is a non-profit organisation incorporated under the laws of Trinidad and Tobago.

Since 2008, Alice Yard has run a residency programme hosting artists, curators, and other creative practitioners. Find out more here.